Bon Jovi’s world tour was the most successful one of its kind this year, despite the fact that “The Circle,” their recent album, didn’t have strong sales.  Jon Bon Jovi, along with his band mates, sold $201.1 million in ticket sales for their 80 shows around the world.  The tour was in support of “The Circle.”

Bon Jovi was able to beat out the top grossing acts from 2009, AC/DC and U2.  Last year U2 was at the top of the list, grossing $311 million, while AC/DC was in second place, grossing $227 million.  This year U2, with their 32 shows and gross of $160.9 million were in third place, behind AC/DC who performed 40 shows and grossed $177 million.

Lady Gaga is next.  The outrageous singer, who  scored the biggest-selling album this year, also was the fourth highest tour earner this year.  Gaga’s long “Monster Ball tour” brought in $133.6 million from her 138 gigs in 2010.

Also appearing on the top concert list were the Eagles, Paul McCartney, Michael Buble and Metallica.  The tough economy overall caused ticket sales this year to slide.  Ticket sales on the top 50 worldwide tours, at $2.93 billion, dropped a total of 12 percent.  In North America they dropped to $1.69 billion, a decrease of 15 percent.

In 2010 Lady Gaga didn’t really release a full length album.  However she managed somehow to develop into an even greater star.  Mostly this had to do with her continuing to work with what she already had- her incomparable videos and endless tour- as much as her being able to harness her well deserved and hard fought stardom while trying to be a forceful presence for social change.  Gaga spoke out proudly and loudly to show her support for gay rights and opposed the policy “don’t ask, don’t tell.”  In the process, Lady Gaga became the type of superstar that hasn’t been seen in decades: someone who isn’t afraid to offend despite having a lot to lose.

Her fearlessness, along with her continued success on the charts and pushing the envelope with her event videos, is the reason Lady Gaga was chosen as the Woman of the Year by MTV News.  It’s the second year in a row she has won the award.  It seems quite fitting.  No one, after all, has dominated the pop culture as well as musical landscape the way she has during the last two years.  She dominated this year a bit differently.  To honor her reign, here’s a retrospective of 2010 for Lady Gaga, the year where she transformed from being a pop icon into a genuine social force.

Highlights From 2010: Gaga started 2010 the way she closed out 2009: being on tour.  She wowed audiences in January with a four night, triumphant run at Radio City Musical Hall in New York City.  Then at the Grammys she stole the show with her duet with Elton John and outrageous wardrobe.  Her and Cyndi Lauper teamed up on the campaign MAC AIDS Fund VIVA Glam.  Her Brit Awards performance paid tribute to Alexander McQueen, the late fashion designer.  In February, Gaga started to revamp her Monster Ball Tour as well as her forthcoming video for “Telephone,” which helped to catapult her into even greater fame.

The Jonas Akerlund directed “Telephone” was full of lightning fast nods to popular culture as much as it was to near nudity and wanton violence.  It made its premiere on March 11, developing into the event video that all other of its kind would become judged against.  Fans as well as celebrities loved it.  The clip inspired countless tributes on YouTube.  Talk about a sequel followed quickly.

In April, it was announced that Gaga would be one of the headliners at Lollapalooza.  She also made Time magazine’s list as one of their “100 Most Influential People.”  She had her fans in a panic in June when she informed Larry King she had been tested for lupus and was borderline positive.  She then wowed the fans with the video “Alejandro which mixed religious symbolism with German Expressionism.  Some thought she went a bit too far.

Then she informed Rolling Stone that her new set was finished.  She premiered “You and I,” the first song off the album at the White Tie and Tiara Ball by Elton John.  Another leg on her Monster Ball tour kicked off in Montreal.  At a show of hers in Arizona, Gaga encouraged her fans to protest Arizona’s immigration law.  In April she won a record breaking and whopping 12 nominations from the Video Music Awards.  At Lollapalooza she delivered with a set that was surreal.

In September at the VMAs Gaga won eight awards, including one for Video of the Year.  She announced the title of her new album was “Born this Way.”  However all that people were talking about was Gaga’s infamous “meat dress.”  For the rest of the month it dominated celebrity gossip.  Another thing of note was Gaga’s dates at the show: women and men from the Service Members Legal Defense Network.  They had all been discharged or prohibited from serving in the Armed Forces due to the fact that they were gay.

Gaga, inspired by the stories, started a loud campaign for having the long standing military policy “don’t ask, don’t tell” overturned.  Gaga called on Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader, to vote to repeal the measure.  She posted an impassioned plea on video, encouraging her fans to contact their senators to demand they also vote.  In Maine she hosted an impromptu rally that grabbed the attention of Maine Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe.  Her efforts ultimately failed.  Senate Democrats weren’t able to gather enough votes to start a debate on the issue.  However Gaga continued her adamant support of gay rights.   RedOne, the producer said the theme of her album “Born This Way” would be freedom.

Lady Gaga capped 2010 off by surpassing 1 billion views on YouTube and was also named as one of the 100 Most Power Women by Forbes and Artist of the Year by Billboard.  She was nominated for six Grammys, had two songs on the Top 25 countdown on MTV News, including “Telephone” in the No. 10 spot.  Madame Tussauds made eight wax figures in her honor.  Then there is “Born This Way.”  The new album is due to be released early next year.  By all accounts the set is shaping up into something great.  It does raise a question: next year at this time will we be awarding Gaga with her third consecutive award as Woman of the Year?  We aren’t going to bet against it.  As Lady Gaga proved in 2010, anything is possible.

Lady Gaga on Thursday was named Artist of the Year by Billboard magazine, capping off an incredible 2010 year for her.  She became just the seventh woman to ever be honored since the magazine started to give out the award in 1981.

The Artist of the Year award for Lady Gaga, illustrating her meteoric rise on the music charts, came only one year after being named Top New Artist by Billboard.  She is just the third act to have ever accomplished that feat.  The other two were Whitney Houston and Chris Brown.

Gaga beat other heavyweights for Artist of the Year such as Lady Antebellum, Eminem and Taylor Swift.  According to Billboard, the honor was given to Lady Gaga to thank her for the chart performance of “The Fame Monster” and “The Fame,” her first two sets, which rank at number 13 and 4 on Billboard’s year-end Top 200 Albums, as well as four singles appearing on their Hot 100 Songs chart.  “Bad Romance” leads the way in the No. 8 spot.

Other previously named women for Artist of the Year by Billboard are Madonna in 1985, Whitney Houston in 1986, Mariah Carey in 1991, Alanis Morissette in 1996, LeAnn Rimes in 1997 and Taylor Swift in 2009.

The honor from Billboard came one week exactly after Lady Gaga received six Grammy nominations.  Early Friday morning Gaga sent a tweet in praise of her fans, after being digitally dead for almost a week.

She tweeted, monsters we have Billboard’s Artist of the Year and 6 Grammy nominations.  Thank you all for fighting for self-invention and artistic freedom.

There’s additional evidence that Vogue is become more internet savvy.  The magazine compiled its very own Best Dressed Top 10 list.  Michelle Obama, naturally, was included.

To their credit, the ensembles Vogue selected to highlight for the best dressed women are not favorites in the tried and true tradition.  There aren’t any red carpet Academy Awards shots or street style pics.  For example, the photo of Jessica Biel shows her in a pantsuit.

However, the list is fairly predictable, featuring a who’s who of the regular favorites of Vogue, including Alexa Chung, Carey Mulligan, Marion Cotillard, Sarah Jessica Parker and Michelle Obama.  However, Lady Gaga does make an appearance on the list, which is note worthy.  Anna Wintour apparently has forgiven Gaga for her off-kilter performance during the Costume Institute Gala at the Met.  The spotlight is also shone on some less heralded, however no less worthy mavens of style like Shala Monroque and Liya Kebede.  Blake Lively was also included, which makes us think Leighton Meester must be feeling like Jan compared to Blake’s Marsha.

Of course there were some omissions of note as well.  For example, Diane Kruger, who both off and on the red carpet, continues to be virtually flawless in her wardrobe choices.  Carla Bruni-Sarkozy could have been consider, although of late she’s been more ho-hum, in addition to Charlotte Gainsbourg and Julia Restoin-Roitfeld.  Quite frankly, all of them could have possibly been better candidates instead of Blake Lively.  However that’s just our opinion.

In terms of voting by the public, the current winner quite naturally on Vogue’s best dressed list is Lady Gaga.

Although she was not in the building, Lady Gaga managed to still be the show stealer on November 7 at MTV’s 2010 Europe Music Awards.

Lady Gaga wasn’t able to attend due to having a show in Budapest, the latest stop on her “Monster Ball Tour.”  However during her Budapest concert she stopped to accept her awards via satellite live and gave her acceptance speeches with the extravagant looks which have shocked watchers from the red carpet.

The winning streak for Gaga started early that night, with the singer winning the Best Pop award.  She accepted the award during the middle of her show wearing a purple sculptural jacket.  She accepted the Best Female award wearing a black bodysuit, giving her heartfelt speech standing next to a sooty car and sharing a short kiss with a dancer handing her a trophy.

When her “Bad Romance” won Best Song, Gaga really let loose.  She was wearing a plastic, sheer mini dress with X shaped pasties to obscure her nipples and rocking yellow hair.  She accepted her award with show-stopping energy that she has become so well known for.  After she lamented about not being in Madrid in person, she started to belt out “Teeth,” a track from “The Fame: Monster” in a funky version, singing “show your teeth” as she worked moves that were James Brown-esque including a full back bend to the ground.

Eva Longoria, EMA host, even gave a shout-out to Gaga, appearing in a gigantic ham costume that she said had been left behind by the pop singer, which was a reference to the VMA meat dress that Gaga grabbed the headlines with.

On November 7, the 2010 EMA awards show will be airing on MTV2 at 9 pm.  A performance heavy, edited version will air on MTV on Friday at 9 pm.

On November 4 Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and U2 took home big wins from Billboard’s 2010 Touring Awards.  Prizes are handed out based on box office global numbers that are reported to Billboard, a leading music trade publication.

The top honor of the evening went to “U2 360 Tour,” the massive tour of U2′s.  It won the Top Draw and Top Tour Awards.  The awards are for tours that sell the most worldwide tickets from October 1, 2009 to September 30, 2010 and highest gross at the box office, respectively.

Lady Gaga won the Concert Marketing and Promotion as well as Breakthrough Award.  The projected gross from her long running tour “Monster Ball” is at $200 million.  The official sponsor for the singer’s Canadian and American legs is Virgin Mobile.

Taylor Swift’s astounding week continued.  Her “Fearless Tour” won Top Package Award.  The outing featured Gloriana and Kellie Pickler as opening acts.

The ceremony took place in New York at the end of Billboard’s Touring Conference.  Other awards handed out included Dane Cook wining Top Comedy Tour Award.  Eventful Fans’ Choice Award went to Metallica.  AC/DC’s stand of three nights in Sydney at ANZ Stadium won Top Boxscore Award.  The band Rush was awarded Billboard’s 2010 Legends Of Live award and the Humanitarian Award went to Jack Johnson.

Just when we thought we have seen everything about Lady Gaga, well, prepare your senses – actually just one, your sense of smell – as the award winning and chart topping artist is about to unleash a scent that promises to be as extravagant and flamboyant as she is.

The Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) website broke the news of Gaga’s new entrepreneurial venture which, according to the report will also carry her name as the fragrance line’s brand.  The fragrance line is set to hit stores by spring 2012.

Meanwhile, Gaga was also the runaway winner at the MTV VMAs last Sunday when she went home with 8 Moonmen statues out of the 13 nominations she earned, including the ultimate honor for Video of the Year, where she accepted the award while she was clad in an ensemble of raw meat from head to toe – including her purse – and announced the title of her new album and her follow up to “The Fame Monster”, “Born This Way”.

Lady Gaga never disappoints to surprise us fashion wise.  At the MTV VMAs on Sunday night, yes she did not stun us with any of her over-the-top stage antics which was very unlikely (which we also think was a mistake by MTV not to sign Gaga up for a performance since she has a new album coming out and her performance would’ve been a win-win situation for both), but she still found a way to have all eyes, noses, and probably appetites on her when she got up on the stage to receive her final Moonman of the night for Video of the Year clad in red, raw meat.

And yes, that was fresh, raw meat all over her, and even held one as a purse.  Oh, and award presenter Cher also did get a chance to hold that infamous purse while Gaga was delivering her acceptance speech.

The brain behind the flesh dress is Franc Fernandez with stylist Nicola Formichetti as the accomplice.  So you might ask, where did the fresh meat come from? “The dress is indeed real meat from my family butcher. Glad it went so well”, Fernandez said.

After her acceptance speech, Gaga sat down with daytime talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and dished out her thoughts on her raw ensemble.

“Well, it is certainly no disrespect to anyone that is vegan or vegetarian. As you know, I am the most judgment-free human being on the earth. However, it has many interpretations, but for me this evening … If we don’t stand up for what we believe in and if we don’t fight for our rights, pretty soon we’re going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones. And I am not a piece of meat”, Gaga explained.

Lady Gaga’s biggest and breakout year was indeed in 2009, with the release of her first full length studio album, “The Fame”.  This would have earned her a Best New Artist nod and perhaps, a win in last year’s Grammy Awards, but as we have seen, this was not the case and country act Zac Brown Band took home the honor instead.

That controversy lead to a further scrutiny of the rules governing the Grammy’s especially for the Best New Artist category where, according to the old rules, a new artist is qualified for the category unless he or she has released a single, an album, has appeared as a featured artist on someone else’s single, or has won a Grammy in the past.  Lady Gaga released “Just Dance”, her breakout and debut single in 2008, making her technically ineligible for the Best New Artist race the following year.

The organization recognizes the new trend for new artists who are trying to break out in the music scene in a non-traditional manner.  Nowadays, new artists would either appear as a collaborator on someone else’s single or would release his or her own single, similar to Lady Gaga’s “Just Dance”, before releasing a full length album.

This resulted in a change of eligibility qualifications for new artists vying for the prestigious Grammy honor.  The new rule, where new artists even if they have appeared as a guest on another artist’s single, or have released their own single as long as it is not a full length album or LP in the past, will be eligible to compete in the category, will take effect on the next Grammy Awards in 2011.

What may be too late for the eccentric pop artist may come just in time for Atlanta-based Janelle Monae who released her first LP “The ArchAndroid” this year, as she could still compete in the Best New Artist category in the next Grammy Awards even if she has released a single, “Many Moons”, in 2009 which earned a Grammy nod in the 2009 Grammy Awards.

The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has awarded Lady Gaga as their Outstanding Music Artist.

The singer, who stirred up controversy with a lesbian kiss during her Telephone video, received the honor during the 21st Awards show for both her music as well as increasing visibility and promoting equality for the LGBT community.

Lady Gaga beat Adam Lambert, her friend and former American Idol contestant, as well as Otep, The Gossip and Brandi Carlile, during the final installment of the GLAAD Awards held in San Francisco.  Earlier this year two ceremonies were held in Los Angeles and New York.

Another big winner was director Lee Daniels for “Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.”  Daniels revealed he had to overcome some very big issues regarding his sexuality starting at a very young age.

My dad beat me daily because I was gay.  There were bullies after me and I wanted to commit suicide.

Winning the Golden Gate Award was Cybill Shepherd for her Phyllis Kroll portrayal, a lesbian character on The L Word.    Shepherd’s two daughters presented her with her award.

Shepherd said,we stand on our elders’ shoulder.  I would like to thank everybody who has work so hard and made this possible.  I am quite humbled.  I don’t know if I can be even more dedicated to the cause, but I never could thank GLAAD enough for educating me.

Chely Wright, country singer, and Sam Sparro, Australian dancer singer, were also in attendance.  Sparro also performed.